ART CLASS DAY 20: PAINTING WITH ACRYLIC PENS

Finally got to take an art class with my super-artsy husband! He’s a way better painter than I am and I think the class was fun for him as well. We signed up for Root Division‘s one-night class Alternative Painting: Acrylic Pens and Gloss Gels, swinging by the art supply store on the way to grab a few fun acrylic pens.

About the Space

Root Division’s space is fantastic – it’s located at Mission, in the Mid-Market / SOMA neighborhood. The classes take place on the ground floor, behind the gallery space. There are also a TON of small artists studios in the space. Root Division is a really cool organization and I hope to take more classes there in the future.

About the Teacher

Before class started, our instructor Ben Kellgren gave us a tour of his studio and showed us his paintings. His style is a complicated patterning of dots (stippling) to create organic patterns. They were amazing, but I’m guessing they take a lot of time. In the class, he taught us how to utilize the acrylic pens to create unique art.

Ben’s sample art (lots of dots!)

After painting (Brad went dot-style, I went more draw as paint style – with my Robot, below) and then we covered the entire thing with gloss (which is the clear/blueish film covering the art).

Here’s my finished project, which I ended up giving to my son Calvin, who has a bit of a robot-thing going on in his bedroom.